Objective: College campuses report alcohol and other drug policy violations as the most frequent reason students receive disciplinary referrals and, thus, are mandated to programming. This study sought to determine predictors of mandated students' alcohol use frequency, and the likelihood of early-onset alcohol using college students enrolled in…

Objective: Since the late '90 s, energy drink consumption has increased. The purpose of this investigation was to examine energy drink expectancies of college students. Participants: The university registrar randomly selected fifty university classes to be surveyed. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to assess the prevalence of…

We used data from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey to examine patterns of cigarette smoking behavior and tobacco use. In light of the recent upsurge in e-cigarette use, we modeled current use and future intentions to use vape products along with combustible cigarette smoking and other tobacco products (i.e., cigars, cigarillos, chew, snuff,…

The purpose of this study was to analyze factors that predict marijuana use and grade point average among undergraduate college students using the Core Institute national database. The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey was used to collect data on students' attitudes, beliefs, and experiences related to substance use in college. The sample used in this…

A range of research has recognized the benefits of optimism in a variety of health-related outcomes. Pessimism has received less attention but may be a distinct concept that is uniquely related to certain health behaviors, including drug use. The present study examined relationships between optimism and pessimism and alcohol use trajectories of…

This study examined the association between prenatal exposure to cocaine and physiological regulation across the first 7 months of age. Measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were obtained from 169 (82 cocaine-exposed and 87 nonexposed) infants during baseline periods at 1 month and 7 months of age and during tasks designed to elicit…

This study examined the nature of the relationship between adolescents' subjective age (how old they feel) and chronological age, and explored whether dating, sex, and substance use predicted increases in adolescents' subjective age across a two-year period. The participants were 570 adolescents who were interviewed when they were first ages 12-19…

Relations between (a) serious suicidal ideation and attempts and (b) demographics, trauma history, assault characteristics, post-assault outcomes, and psychosocial variables were examined among female adult sexual assault survivors. Younger, minority, and bisexual survivors reported greater ideation. More traumas, drug use, and assault disclosure…

For the four leading causes of death in the United States (heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic respiratory disease), tobacco use is a common risk factor. Tobacco use is responsible for almost 450,000 deaths per year and impacts the health of every member of our society. Tobacco is a gateway drug for substance abuse. That role is critical to…

Investigates effects of drug-use initiation and conduct disorder (CD) among 1031 adolescents who participated in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcomes Studies for Adolescents (DATOS-A). The mean age of first drug use was 12.7, 57% met DSM-III-R criteria for CD, and earlier initiators were more likely to have CD. (Contains 27 references and 4 tables.)…

A cohort of former New York State adolescents were reinterviewed nine years after an initial survey. Drug use predictions, it was found, can be based on age effects and prior types of drug use; marijuana use, for example, is necessary for progression to other illicit drugs. (KH)

The prevalence of alcohol use among students at colleges in New York State was studied, along with sociodemographic characteristics that tend to be associated with heavy or moderate drinking or abstension. The age at which a student took the first drink was the strongest predictor of alcohol consumption. (Authors/PP)

Examined knowledge about medicines and perceived benefit among 101 children, ages 7 and 10. Found that medicine knowledge was explained using age, educational environment, and degree of internal locus of control as significant predictors. The negative effect of internal locus of control predicted perceived benefit. Retention of drug advertising…

Using an integration of social control theory and the routine activity perspective, adolescent time use was examined for effects on problem behaviors. We examined a wide variety of time use categories, including homework, extracurricular activities, sports time, alone time, paid work, housework, television watching, as well as indices of family…

This study examined the relationship between criminal violence and type of substance abuse among 184 current and former residents of an inpatient non-hospital drug and alcohol treatment facility. The criminal justice system functioned as the source of referral into the program for 89% of the subjects studied while only 11% came to treatment…